Okay, Public School System…. Enough With The Paperwork Already!

Technology IS alive and well, right? I mean, we do have computers and like, that Internet-thingy out there still?

Then can anyone tell me WHY I filled out A TRILLION PIECES of paper with the exact same information last night for each of my kids?

Hello? Public school system? Are you there?

Can any of this stuff be automated? Can we fill some of it out on the Internet? Is there ANY WAY POSSIBLE to make that happen? Save a tree or two?

I am guessing the answer is no. Or we would have been given that option. Right? Or maybe this is some sort of test of our parental meddle? Maybe they want to see what we are made of?

Like, the school system’s version of the Marine Corps challenge or something like that.Weed out the strong parents in advance! The ones who complete their paperwork quota quickly and with the most accuracy will be targeted for PTA and volunteer duties STAT!

Ugh. (Seriously though. I think I am on to something here!)

Anyway, my husband and I spent almost two hours dealing with this stuff together. (We each took a kid AND drank some wine.) Two copies per child of: emergency cards, PTA info, busing info, classroom info, and on and on and on…

Not only that but we had like, 2,000 documents to read as well – school handbooks, calendars, classroom rules, grade expectations, newsletters, schedules….

HOLY HANNAH!

But you know what? We were strong. We survived, dammit! (With a little help from the vino, of course.)

BTW – In case you were not aware, I have another blog that I write for my local newspaper. It is called “Mamma Mania.” I’ve been writing some back to school blogs for them, as well. If you are interested… check the latest one out here.

10 comments on Okay, Public School System…. Enough With The Paperwork Already!

i feel you! could have wallpapered a few rooms yesterday with the paperwork from my four kids’ FOUR different schools! husband out of town and no wine- it’s a wonder i am still alive and didn’t gouge out my own eyes with a No. 2 pencil!!!

Okay, so I’m split on this. As a parent yeah, it’s nuts. Your hand cramps up so hard. Shouldn’t they already have things down? I mean where else does your money go if you’re doing all the work? Certainly not to the wonderful help you receive when you call to ask a question. On the flip side, though, as a volunteer who did the school directory for last yer, there are TONS of people who don’t update their information, much less at all. Then they get mad when their information is wrong and no one can contact them or they miss out on something. This year we’re online at Rockstar’s school but I can tell you that not many people have updated the system. And I can also tell you it took all my experience as a computer savvy person AND college degree to get my information up there. I’m not kidding – it was NOT easy.

HOWEVER…I don’t get why everytime he enters the next school in the school system that we have to resubmit all the same paperwork all over again. Clearly they KNOW who he is, since the mail from the school never stops coming.

No doubt! What’s funny is that they added each child to a new database so that we wouldn’t have to fill out so many papers this year. It went from 12 sheets to 10! And 4 of them were about computer/internet use! HA!

My kids don’t even start school until Monday and they have already mailed me a mountain of paperwork for each kid. I have 3 kids at the same school and almost all the information is repeated over and over again. Sigh! I guess I have to meet the deadline to be known as a “good” parent.

Brienne Superczynski

August 25, 2009 at 7:45 pm

You know, the forms are really for the parents… to test us. I am sure of it. Can you fill out both copies exactly the same? Can you come up with all your kids’ medications, in the same order, for the same diagnoses, with the same symptoms? How about their homeroom teachers, and their student ID numbers? Remember those? How about you all with four kids, huh? Remember all their names? The forms are just to test us. We do well, they do well.
By the way… “Miss”, as in “Miss Smith”, is not an abbreviation for “Missing” or something like that. No period required. That is what this parent noticed.

Jackie

August 26, 2009 at 12:03 pm

Yes, we are amazed every year at the amount of paperwork to fill out. My childs info didn’t change from last year so it would be wonderful to check a box online that the info remains the same as the year before. With all the computer technology out there…I can’t believe we still have to fill out handwritten forms. Fortunately my childs school gave us until Friday of this week to turn in all the forms.